Pentelic marble, 430 B.C.
Rome
Vatican City, Museo Gregoriano Profano, inv. 559

Five rare Attic funerary steles carved in relief, dating from the 5th century B.C., have been found in a small area of the Esquiline, once included within the boundaries of the Horti of Maecenas, starting from the 16th century to today.
These works, which already in Roman times were considered precious antiquarian treasures, very probably adorned part of the garden set up to evoke the Kerameikos, the monumental cemetery at the gates of Athens.